Here And Now (American Valor 2) by Cheryl Etchison Page B

had to make a conscious effort to not just sit and stare at him the entire time.
    But as good looking as Lucky was, as nice as he was, she’d made a promise to herself to not immediately jump into another relationship and she was going to stick to it this time. Of course, it wasn’t like he was offering anything aside from friendship to begin with.
    Just before noon, Rachel pulled into the driveway of her childhood home just blocks from Lucky’s house. Hidden from the street behind a row of cedars, the hundred-year-old two-story was worlds apart from his when it came to appearance. At first glance, most people would assume it was abandoned. The paint had peeled years ago. Cardboard and duct tape covered the cracked windows. The chain-link fence that bordered the property gaped and sagged in places, rendering it completely useless. In the yard there was a collection of rusted-out vehicles her father had hauled home over the years with the intention of fixing them up and selling them. Of course, that would have required him to be home to actually work on them or have money to buy the necessary parts.
    Once Ethan joined the army, life should’ve been easier for her parents with no extra mouths to feed, except her father injured his back while working on one of his many cars. Now, with both of them having a host of medical problems, between the doctor’s visits and their prescriptions, her parents were in a financial rut from which they’d never escape.
    With plastic grocery bags dangling from her fingertips, Rachel climbed the dilapidated front porch, careful to avoid the rotted boards. She knocked twice on the front door of her parents’ home and waited a moment before shouldering it open and going inside. Instantly she was greeted by the smell of stale cigarette smoke and a blaring television. She wasn’t surprised to find her father sitting only feet away in his broken-down recliner, his attention held by the local news station’s fishing report.
    “Hi, Dad. How are you feeling today?”
    Her father tore his gaze away from the television for only the briefest of moments to look at her, then went back to watching without saying a word.
    Some would consider Rachel a glutton for punishment coming here week after week, caring for a father who did his best to ignore her and a mother who often had her walking on eggshells. But as the only child still living within shouting distance, not to mention being the only daughter, the responsibility naturally fell upon her shoulders.
    “I picked up your prescription along with some other things I thought you might like.”
    She settled the bags on the small kitchen table and couldn’t stop herself from holding her breath while listening for a response. Again, nothing.
    “Just so you know, I’m not living with Curtis anymore,” she told him, even knowing her father didn’t care one iota. “I’ve moved out on my own. I’m renting a place off old Highway 70. It’s a mobile home, but it’s nice and fairly new.” After putting everything away she stepped back into the living room. “It’s not in a trailer park, it’s . . .”
    The chair where her father had been sitting was now empty and the door to her parents’ bedroom closed.
    Rachel could only shake her head in wonder.
    For as long as she could remember, there had been an underlying tension in their home. Rachel always assumed it had to do with money, how her father was always going from job to job, sometimes being gone for weeks or months at a time. Meanwhile her mother worked odd jobs all around town in an effort to keep the electricity on and food in the cabinets.
    When she was young, her older brothers were often left in charge while their parents were away at work. But by the time she turned ten and both of her older brothers were working part-time, it became Rachel’s job to clean the house, cook the meals, and keep an eye on her younger brother. Her mother’s moods ran hot and cold; sometimes she was a joy